Agarwals (Hindi: अग्रवाल), are a large and influential community in India. Traditionally, the Agarwals have been a trading community in northern and western India, though in modern times they follow other professions as well. People from the Agarwal community are very successful entrepreneurs and have played a prominent role in India's economic development.
The texts and legends of the Agarwal community trace the origin of Agarwals to the legendary Kshatriya king Agrasena of the Sun Dynasty who adopted Vanika dharma for the benefit of his people. Literally, Agarwal means the people of Agroha, a city in ancient Kuru Panchala, near Hisar in Haryana region said to be founded by Agrasena.
The majority of Agarwals belong to the Vaishnavite sect of Hinduism while the remaining 14% of them practice Jainism.
Legend
The Agarwals claim descent from the legendary king Agrasena of Agroha or Agreya, near Hisar in Haryana. Various legends about Agroha and Agrasena are found among the Agarwals.
Noted Indian Hindi author Bharatendu Harishchandra (himself an Agarwal) wrote Agarwalon ki Utpatti (The origin of Agarwals) in 1871, based on an account in the Mahalaksmi Vrat Katha manuscript.
According to this account, Maharaja Agrasena was a Suryavanshi Kshatriya leader, born during the last stages of Dwapar Yuga. He was the eldest son of the King Ballabh of Pratapnagar. Agrasena fathered 18 children, from whom the Agarwal gotras came into being. Maharaja Agrasena was a peaceful king and did not like violence, once while performing a yagna, the Rajguru asked Maharaja Agrasena to sacrifice a goat in order for the ceremony to be successfully completed. Agrasena did not wish to kill the innocent animal and refused to the killing of the animal. The Rajguru advised that since he was a Kshatriya king, it was his duty to perform the ritual and if he does not wish to proceed, he should give up Kshatriya caste and take up Vaishya caste (Known as Baniya in the modern days) since it was not possible to go up the ladder in the Hindu Caste system to become a Brahmin. According to another legend, the Hindu goddess Mahalakshmi urged Agrasena to give up the Kshatriya tradition, and take up the Vaishya tradition of business, for the sake of the prosperity of his people. She asked him to establish a new kingdom, and promised that she would bless his descendants with prosperity and wealth. Agrasena travelled all over India with his queen to select a place for a new kingdom, and finally established his kingdom at Agroha. According to Vachanakosha of Bulakhichand (1680 CE), Agar Rishi married a naga-kanya (nagavanshi girl) and had 18 children. A similar account is given in 1885 Bombay Presidency Gazetteer, Rishi Agrasen married 17 naga-kanyas.
Agrasena divided his kingdom amongst his 18 children, resulting in eighteen Agarwal gotras. Often, the number of gotras is stated to be seventeen and a half. According to one legend, Agrasena proceeded to conduct 18 mahayajnas ("Great yajnas"). When he was in the process of performing his eighteenth yajna, he was filled with compassion for the animal to be sacrificed. He put a stop to his eighteenth yajna announcing that no sacrifices will be made in his kingdom in the name of yajnas. Thus, the eighteenth yajna was not completed and Agrasena had only performed seventeen and a half yajnas. The sage Garga blessed him with seventeen and a half gotras.
In the later part of his life, King Agrasena approved the succession of his eldest son Vibhu to the throne and took Vanaprastha ashram. According to legend, Agroha was a prosperous city and a hundred thousand traders lived in the city during its heyday. An insolvent community man as well as an immigrant wishing to settle in the city would be given a rupee and a brick by each inhabitant of the city. Thus, he would have a hundred thousand bricks to build a house for himself, and a hundred thousand rupees to start a new business. Gradually, the city of Agroha declined and was finally destroyed in a huge fire. The residents of Agroha i.e. the Agarwals moved out of Agroha and spread in other parts of India.
History
The Agarwal community traces its origins to Agreya Agroha, near Hisar, Haryana in Haryana. The view is supported by historical evidence.
In Pradumna Charita of samvat 1411, the Agarwal poet Sadharu wrote "अगरवाल की मेरी जात, पुर आगरोए महि उतपात" ("My jāti is Agarwal, and I trace my roots to the city of Agroha).
Agroye (Agra or Agr) associated with Agroha.
In his Padma Purana of 1711, Muni Sabhachandra writes "अग्रोहे निकट प्रभु ठाढे जोग, करैं वन्दना सब ही लोग|| अग्रवाल श्रावक प्रतिबोध, त्रेपन क्रिया बताई सोध||", (When Lohacharya was near Agroha, he taught the 53 actions to the Agarwal shravakas).
In a Sanskrit inscription, the Agarwals are referred to as Agrotaka ("from Agroha"): "सं १३२९ चैत्र वुदी दशम्यां बुधवासरे अद्येह योगिनिपुरे समस्त राजावलि-समलन्कृत ग्यासदीन राज्ये अत्रस्थित अग्रोतक परम श्रावक जिनचरणकमल".
Migration to Delhi
The Agarwal merchant Nattal Sahu, and the Agarwal poet Vibudh Shridhar lived during the reign of Tomara King Anangapal of Yoginipur (now Mehrauli, near Delhi). Vibudh Shridhar wrote Pasanahacariu in 1132 AD, which includes a historical account of Yoginipur (early Delhi near Mehrauli) then.
In 1354, Firoz Shah Tughlaq had started the construction of a new city near Agroha, called Hisar-e-Feroza ("the fort of Firoz"). Most of the raw material for building the town was brought from Agroha. The town later came to be called Hisar. Hisar became a major centre of the Agarwal community. Some Agarwals are also said to have moved to the Kotla Firoz Shah fort in Delhi, built by Firoz Shah Tughlaq.
Migration to Rajput kingdoms
Many Agarwals migrated to Rajasthan. They form large fraction of the merchant population of Shekhawati region. Along with Maheshwari, Khandelwal and Oswals, they form the Marwari bania community.
In the early 15th century, Agarwals flourished as a trader community, under the Tomaras of Gwalior. According to several Sanskrit inscription at the Gwalior Fort in Gwalior District, several traders (Sanghavi Kamala Simha, Khela Brahmachari, Sandhadhip Namadas etc.) belonging to Agrotavansha (Agarwal clan) supported the sculptures and carving of idols at the place.
Historian K.C. Jain comments:
“Golden Age of the Jain Digambar Temple in Gwalior under the Tomara rulers inspired by the Kashtha Bhattarakas and their Jaina Agarwal disciples who dominated the Court of father and son viz. Dungar Singh (1425-59)and Kirti Singh (1459-80) with the Poet-Laureate Raighu as their mouthpiece and spokesman, a centenarian author of as many as thirty books, big and small of which two dozen are reported to be extant today. Verify the advent of the Hisar-Firuza-based Jain Agarwals who functioned as the ministers and treasurers of the ruling family had turned the Rajput State of Gwalior into a Digambara Jain Centre par excellence representing the culture of the Agarwal multi-millionaire shravakas as sponsored by them.” |
In 15th century, many Agarwals migrated to Amber kingdom (now Jaipur). In VS 1535, Agarwal Nenasi conducted a pratishtha ceremony at Sanganer. A copy of Amarsen Chariu copied in VS 1577 at Sonipat was found at Amber, suggesting that Agarwals took sacred texts with them during this migration.
Migration to Eastern India
Later, during the Mughal rule, and during the British East India Company administration, some Agarwals migrated to Bihar and Calcutta, who became the major component of the Marwaris. The family of Babu Shankarlal became zamindars at Arrah, which repaired temples at Masarh and built a new Jain temple in 1819.
Agarwals under the Mughal
The Mughal were relatively liberal, and some Agarwals rose to prominent positions in this period. Sahu Todar was a supervisor of the royal mint at Agra, who had rebuilt the 514 Jain stupas at Mathura in 1573, during the rule of Akbar.
Sah Ranveer Singh was a royal treasurer during the rule of Akbar. He was awarded a jagir in western UP, where he established the town Saharanpur. His father as well as son and grandson had built several Jain temples, including the one at Kucha Sukhanand in Delhi.
In Delhi, in the walled city, many Agarwals were allocated lands on the north side of Chandni Chowk. In 1656, the Agarwals built a temple in a tent in the Urdu Bazar, now known as Lal Mandir. Raja Harsukh Rai built the first temple with a shikhar (Naya Mandir) in Dharampura in 1807.
Lala Ratan Chand became the diwan of Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar (1713–1719) in 1712, and was given the title of Raja. He was associated with the Saiyid Brothers, who served as the king makers for several years, and became involved in the court intrigues. He was executed during the battle of Hasanpur by the order of the new emperor Muhammad Shah (1719–1748) in 1719. He became the founder of the Rajvanshi Agarwals.
Ramji Das Gurwala was a major banker who had both loaned and donated funds to Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar during the 1857 rebellion. He was later executed by the British. His family later founded Delhi Cloth Mills.
Another relocated and influential person was Lal Chand Modi, the Modi (in-charge of Treasury) of Muhammad Amir khan (the Amir of Tonk). His descendants later settled in Ajmer.
Agarwal Society in modern India
The Agarwals population was 2,718,390, according to the 1911 census of India. In 1936, Chowdhary Chhotu Ram, a minister in the Punjab Government made a law which cancelled all the debts of the villagers. Many Agarwal traders were ruined and migrated to Delhi in search of a living. They settled in colonies like Kamla Nagar, Shakti Nagar and Model Basti. Their trade took place around the walled city areas of Chandni Chowk, Khari Baoli, Dariba Kalan, Nai Sarak, Naya Bazaar, Sadar Bazaar and Chowri Bazaar.
During modern times, many Agarwals were involved in the Indian Independence struggle like Lala Lajpat Rai. They also established major business houses like Dalmia - Sahu Jain, Birla, Poddar, Podar, Bajaj, Singhania, Goenkas of RPG Group, Lala Shri Ram of Delhi Cloth Mills etc. Bharatendu Harishchandra, a major literary figure, was also an Agarwal. The father of modern Lahore, Sir Ganga Ram was also an Agarwal.
Many of India's current notable businesspeople belong to the Agarwal community. These include Lakshmi Mittal of Arcelor Mittal steel, Subhash Chandra Goel of Zee TV, Sunil Mittal of Bharti Telecom, Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways, Naveen Jindal of Jindal Group, Sajjan Jindal of JSW Steel, Anil Agarwal of Vedanta Resources and Indu Jain of The Times Group.
Gotras
The Agarwal community is divided into eighteen gotras, which are exogamous in nature. Sometimes, the number of gotras is stated as seventeen and a half (see the legend section)
Gotra | Original Gotra | Lord | Saint (Guru) | Veda |
Airan/Aeron | Aurva | Indramal | ||
Vatsya | Virbhan | Vishist/Vatsa | ||
Bindal or Vindal | Vishist | Vrinddev | Yavasya or Vashista | |
Dhoumya | Vasudev | Bhardwaj | Kaatyayni | |
Dharan or Deran | Dhanyas | Dhavandev | Bhekaar or Ghaumya | |
Garg or Gargeya | Gargasya | Pushpadev | ||
Gomil | Gendumal | Gautam or Gobhil | ||
Goyan, Goin, Goyanor or Gangal or Gol or Goenka | Gautan | Godhar | Purohit or Gautam | |
Gemino | Jaitrasangh | Bruhaspati or Jaimini | ||
Kansal | Kaushik | Manipal | Kaushik | |
Kuchhal, Kachal or Kuchchal | Kashyap | Karanchand | Kush or Kashyap | |
Madhukul/ Mudgal | Mudgal | Madhavsen | Aashvalayan/Mudgal | |
Mangal | Maandav | Amritsen | Mudragal/Mandavya | |
Maitreya | Mantrapati | Vishwamitra/Maitreya | ||
Naagil/Nangal/Nagal | Naagend | Narsev | Kaudalya/Nagendra | |
Shandalya | Sindhupati | Shringi/Shandilya | ||
Tayal | Taitireya | Tarachand | Saakal/Taitireya | |
Tingal/Tunghal | Taandav | Tambolkarna | Shandilya/Tandya |
Surnames
The surname Agarwal was derived by taking 'Agra' from Agrasena and 'wal' ('wal'originally being 'bal' was taken from the word Baalak meaning child). The word Agarwal effectively means Son of Agrasena. Many Agarwals have adopted their gotra name as their surname. Gupta is a common surname adopted by some Agarwal's, and several partial Agarwal families like Gadia, Saini, Vishnoi and Varshney (majorly found in western Uttar Pradesh and are the progenies and followers of Sri Akrur Ji Maharaj). Varshney (or Barahseni) is a version of a name, first used by Arjuna to address Krishna in the Mahābhārata (Chapter 1, Shloka 41, Swami Sivananda translation). There is some debate over whether Varshneys belong to the Vaishya (merchants and artisans) or Kshatriya (warriors, rulers and politicians) caste. In addition, many others use surnames linked with the place of their origin, for example Jhunjhunwala, Kedia, Gindodiya, Kalothia, Dokania, Lohia, Chamaria, and Singhania etc.
Categories
According to the legend, the Agarwal community developed twenty rules of conduct. Those who followed all the twenty rules were called Bisa Agarwal, those who followed only ten rules were called Dassa Agarwals, those who followed only five were called Punj Agarwals and so on. According to some sources, the dasa Agarwals are said to be the descendants of Agarwals through non-Agarwal wives.
In his book Agarwalon ki Utpatti, Bhartendu Harishchandra categorized Agarwals in four branches according to their places or inhabitation:
Deswal
Purabiye (Easterners)
Pachihiye (Westerners)
Culture
The Agarwal community speaks Hindi, Marwari, Punjabi or related dialects. Traditionally, Agarwal households have followed a vegetarian diet and smoking/alcoholism is generally looked down upon in the community.
There have been many notable Hindi authors amongst the Agarwals of the likes of Bhartendu Harishchandra, Babu Gulabrai and Kaka Hathrasi (whose real name was Prabhulal Garg). Some of the popular Hindi dailies and media houses are run by Agarwals. These include The Times of India, The Indian Express, the Amar Ujala and the Dainik Bhaskar.[1]
Demographics
The 1911 Census of India by the British East India Company reported a total of 1,019,698 Agarwals, making them one of the largest ethnic groups in India.